1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with an improved apparatus for the efficient severing of wing sections from marine creatures such as skates or rays which minimizes the amount of manual labor required, collects the severed wing sections for further processing, and provides for easy disposal of the head and body portions of processed fish. More particularly, it is concerned with such an apparatus preferably having a pair of weighted, rotatable, serrated hold-down sprockets designed for engaging and holding fish of various sizes during cutting operations, together with a pair of outboard, selectively adjustable, powered wing severing blades; a wing section conveyor extending beneath the cutting section serves to collect and convey the wing sections for additional processing, while a carcass chute is employed for collection and disposal of head and body portions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, economic benefit has been derived from the processing of marine creatures such as skates or rays. In particular, the flattened wing sections of such fish have proven to be a delicacy, and accordingly processors have sought a means of efficiently handling fish of this type and preparing the wing sections thereof for sale. The obvious expedient of simply manually severing the wing sections is both labor intensive and wasteful, inasmuch as not all of the valuable wing sections may be obtained.
There is accordingly a decided need in the art for a mechanized, assembly line-type device for cleanly and efficiently severing fish wing sections with a minimum of manual labor and fish handling.